What would you think of a man continuing to work on a salary of $500 a year, when he was offered a position at a salary of $5,000 a year? You would think him very foolish. He says, "I would have to give up my old position in order to take the new one." That is just like a poor sinner. May that blessed One fill our hearts more and more, so that we may say, with the apostle, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Now the apostle, as it were, has not reached there yet; that is, he has not landed in the glory, not obtained Christ-he has Him in his heart,-but he is pressing on, he says, toward that mark for the prize of the calling on high, and forgets those things he had before, or the things that are behind. If he were to think of those things he had before, he might have a hankering after them, just as the children of Israel did.
They had heard of Canaan, that wonderful land into which God was going to put them, but they had their minds on things they had left behind; they remembered those things, so they longed to go back, rather than to go on. The apostle says, "Forgetting those things," etc. Paul was living down here in this world, with his thoughts in eternity. He was living, I might say, in the atmosphere of heaven. That is our portion. I doubt not, if there were only a little more of this with us, we would soon find a bright light, as we noticed last night, shining in the dark scene.
He says, "I don't want to be found in my own righteousness, but in Him." That is what we have. Is not that better than the righteousness of the law? How much better. It is God's righteousness that meets all the claims of God, and glorifies Him. I can say, I have His righteousness. Why? Because I am in Christ Jesus. He can say, "Not as though I had already attained," etc.
Do you realize his thought of reaching on toward the goal, and his thought of being in Christ Jesus? If it is the thought of being in Christ Jesus, we have His righteousness, not we are going to have it, but we have it now, and are perfect, because we are in Him. The object before the apostle is this, that he is passing through the wilderness, and reaching on to the goal, and the nearer he gets, the brighter it gets.
Christ Jesus has laid hold of him; and beloved, Christ Jesus has laid hold of you and me, and that to put us in glory. The apostle says, "I want to get hold of that which I am laid, hold of for," so he presses on to it. If I know I am in Christ, the thing for me is to be like Him while down here, and pressing on toward that mark. "Be followers together of me," etc. The apostle had Christ so before him, and so presented Christ to them, that he can say, "Follow me." Others might not be able to say that, but I believe truly the apostle had a right to say it, for no one had such a view of Christ, and so presented Him as we get in this Epistle, and nothing is going to keep our hearts against all the efforts of the enemy, and the attractions of this world, but Christ for our souls.
The 18th and 19th verses are a parenthesis. That is a solemn word for Christians. I don't say these are Christians. Why does he bring that before them? The principle of it surely is to come home to our own hearts. Am I seeking gain, and at the expense of honor and glory to the Lord, to get along in this world? If I am, that 19th verse in principle, should come home to my heart and conscience.
“Our conversation (or citizenship) is in heaven from whence we look (not for the Savior, but) for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior." That is, He is to come as Savior, hut not for the salvation of the soul. He has accomplished that. He shall appear the second time apart from sin. The first time He came in connection with sin, and was dealt with on account of our sins, and He will never come again for that; but what we get here is, He will come as Savior. In what way will He come as Savior for us? Notice the next verse. "Who will change (not our vile bodies, but) our bodies of humiliation," etc. God lets us into His thoughts and it is this: When He put man here on earth there was no such thing as corruption; but sin came in. What a creature Adam must have been when he came fresh from God, perfect in wisdom and knowledge! He had a perfect body, but sin came in, and he was mortal and corruptible, and now, dear friends, this is all the result of sin upon us, and it is a humiliating thing to us.
As an illustration; Suppose a man has lived a life of drunkenness, and sown the seed of corruption in his body, and in his old age he is converted. He still has in his body the result of his own folly. He carries it with him. It is a humiliating thing to him. Sin brought death in. Instead of being lifted up with pride and rejoicing, it is just to take the low place and say, "Yes, we are poor sinners, so have bodies of humiliation; death will take us if the Lord doesn't come." Satan would try to make us believe there is no such thing as sickness. The fact is, we have now a body of humiliation, but the Lord Jesus Christ is coming as Savior, and will change our bodies of humiliation, and fashion them like His own body of glory.
One once said she had a revelation from God that it was wrong to be sick. I said, "Are these the bodies we will have in glory?" Thank God, I am not going to have this body up there. I am going to have a body like His own body of glory. It is a body of humiliation now, but it is going to be changed like unto His own body of glory, and so He is going to come as Savior for this purpose. I am going to have my body fashioned like unto His own, and so if I am laid away in the grave, this corruption shall put on incorruptibility; and if living, this mortal shall put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass (not now) the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory." The blessed Lord gained that victory when He arose; He gained it for me and He has gone up there into the presence of God, and I rejoice and look forward to the moment which is not far distant, when I shall have my body changed like unto His body of glory, and be forever with Himself.
How precious to find that in this way Christ is so presented to us as the joy of our hearts. God grant we may thus take every part as it is given to us, and see Christ down, here on earth as we get in the second chapter, and say, "That is the pattern for me.”
Meekness and lowliness is my path, but for the joy of my soul, it is to see Him up there, and know He is coming for me, and will change my body of humiliation, and fashion it like His own body of glory. What a comfort I Shall we then be seeking after earthly things? Not if that truth lays hold of us, and, as the apostle says, "When I am laid hold of for that." God grant we may lay hold of it, and easily forget the things that are behind.
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(Concluded.)